E3 2012 Preview – Star Wars: The Old Republic

In the six months that followed it’s launch (the “smoothest launch to date of an MMO, we were reminded), Star Wars: The Old Republic has consistently been releasing updates and patches to ensure that it continues to be the fastest growing MMO with a strong user base (also things we were reminded of during the closed-doors demo). If this demo was any indication, they won’t be slowing down with the updates and patches just yet.

Starting off the string of new and exciting things SWtOR will be offering in the future is an update called Allies. This update will add on to the Legacy update they just released and give players greater Legacy content. Players will also be given the ability to tailor or customize just about everything on their character (including being able to dress them up to look like favorite established Star Wars characters). The introduction of adaptive gear and an augmentation system for gear, a group finder tool and ranked PvP warzones will be added and a tutorial system update (to help out newbs to MMOs) will also happen with this update. They will also be giving players the ability to do free character transfers.

A lot is coming out with that release, but they also teased that there will be at least a couple of future patches to address the want of harder gameplay. Nightmare mode will be offered, as well as Terror From Beyond, which will be a horror-themed operation.

Not stopping there, we were also told that a new area The Ancient Hypergate, is being added for new PvP gameplay mechanics. This play will take place on the planet Celine. There was a hands-on demo offered for this particular update, but the room was pretty packed and I wasn’t able to get to one of the demo machines.

The demo was finished up by the reveal of a new companion and a new story world. The companion will be an upgraded HK-47 from Knights of the Old Republic and he will be available to all classes who go through the storyline to pick him up. The new story planet is called Mekeb and it will be open all factions. There will also be a level cap raise and new combat abilities.